The present invention relates generally to emergency aircraft egress systems, and more particularly to a system for guiding the lower legs and feet of a pilot during emergency aircraft egress.
It is well known that a pilot can not bail out of a high speed aircraft but must be ejected therefrom. Such ejection is usually accomplished by ejecting the seat together with its occupant from the stricken aircraft through the use of a catapult and rocket motor. One significant problem to overcome during ejection is injury to the pilot's legs and feet due to direct impact with the various portions of the cockpit, in particular the instrument panel. Therefore, during the catapult phase when the seat and its occupant move upward out of an aircraft, the pilot's lower legs and feet, which are normally extended to operate the rudder pedals, must be guided to prevent physical impact with the aircraft interior structure. It is not realistic to expect the pilot to voluntarily withdraw his legs and feet to assume a safe preejection position because he may be injured or he may be subject to forces so high that he can not assume or maintain that same safe position by his own efforts. Various devices have therefore been proposed for safely positioning the feet and lower legs of an ejection seat occupant at the time of ejection but do not solve the problem as stated above. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 2,953,331, to Holcolm et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,765,130 to Replogle and U.S. Pat. No. 2,709,557 to Replogle and Majewski.